Instagram is a very popular social media platform for millennials. In fact, 67% of U.S. adults who use Instagram are between ages 18 and 29, and 47% are between 30 and 49. Daycares and Instagram go hand in hand, with the perfect target audience and visual-heavy elements!
Growing your Instagram profile can take some time and patience, but the rewards make it totally worthwhile. A larger following can lead to stronger brand awareness, partnership opportunities and more families for your center. Whether your child care center has had an Instagram business profile for years or you’re just starting out, here are some tips to help you gain followers!
Set Your Account to Public
Ensure that your profile is accessible to parents and businesses by making your child care account public in your settings. This way, you can become discoverable and shareable through public hashtags, geotags, stories, direct messages and suggested lists. We recommend setting up an Instagram business profile for your center.
Link Your Instagram Account on Other Networks
If your child care business has a blog, website or other social media profiles, provide a link to your Instagram account in a post or your website footer. Don’t assume that your followers on one platform are following you on Instagram as well. Encourage moms, dads and local family-oriented businesses from different networks to discover all that you have to offer by following you on Instagram too!
Update Your Bio
Customize your Instagram bio to describe your services with searchable keywords, such as child care or youth camp. The keywords that are used in your “Name” field, which makes up the first 30 characters of your bio, are analyzed by matches. This way, when parents search for child care in your area, they’ll find you easily. It also gives you the opportunity to appear in their “Suggested” lists.
Get Social
Find local family-oriented businesses, programs and events on Instagram, and engage with their posts. Like their posts, leave a thoughtful comment, respond to questions, send a genuine direct message or give their account a follow!
Engaging with your current followers is also essential to building a positive online community and dedicated following. Encourage your followers to take action by asking them to tag a friend in your post, comment a response to your caption or use your hashtag on their posts. Then, participate in the conversations of your followers by replying to their posts, comments and messages!
Geotag Your Photos
Be sure to tag your photos with a location. When you geotag your posts, others using the same geotag or searching the specific location on the Explore page can find you!
Use Relevant Hashtags
Hashtags categorize your posts and make them easily accessible to people searching for that particular topic. A smart hashtag strategy can go along way when you use relevant and specific keywords, such as #buffalofamily or #buffalochildcare.
Find out what hashtags are trending in the daycare world and among young families in your area to connect with potential customers or partners. You can even create your own hashtag campaign, such as a photo challenge, to get your families involved while reaching their followers as well!
Collaborate with Influencers
Social media influencers can help you put your child care center’s Instagram profile in front of hundreds, or even thousands, of faces while making a positive impression on parents seeking child care. In exchange for some form of financial compensation or a fair trade-off, you can get access to a family-oriented influencer’s large audience and gain plenty of valuable followers. To make an impact on potential families for your daycare, choose relevant influencers that appeal to millennial parents with young children.
Host a Contest
Engage with new and current families and grow your Instagram following rapidly with social media contests! Whether you’re offering a percentage off tuition, a discount on summer camp registration, or free tickets to an upcoming event at your center, giveaways are a great way to spark excitement among parents and get new families involved. For the most impact, invite parents to follow your account, tag a friend, share your post on their story and use a hashtag as the entry requirements.
Use Instagram Stories
About half of Instagram’s monthly users are using Instagram Stories. Stories allow you to get creative with behind the scenes content, live videos and interactive polls and questions. Instagram Stories can be very engaging and easily shareable for parents on-the-go or for those who are browsing their Explore tab.
Write Longer Captions
Tell relatable, heartfelt stories through descriptive captions to appeal to parents and businesses on a deeper level. Writing longer captions can help you develop your brand’s voice to better engage with your audience online. Lengthy captions and storytelling will captivate your followers, encouraging them to interact with your profile and share your posts with other potential families.
